NSW Breakers to take to field with 'clean' shirt after sponsor split

One of Australian sport's most successful teams is without a sponsor days before the start of the season.

NSW Breakers players are set to take to the field in their season opener next week with a "clean" shirt after long-term commercial partner Lendlease cut ties with the domestic powerhouse of women's cricket this year.

Results: The NSW Breakers are one of Australia's most successful elite level sporting sides... but can't get a sponsor.Credit:AAP

Breakers players were presented at Cricket NSW's season launch on Tuesday night without any sponsorship logos on their shirts.

It's understood the multinational construction group's Australian arm had been keen to continue the partnership but the deal was not renewed to cut costs at the end of the last financial year. Both Cricket NSW and Lendlease have said there was an amicable split.

Advertisement

The Breakers are one of the most dominant teams in top level Australian sport, having won 19 of 22 titles in the Women's National Cricket League.

It has some of the most recognised faces in the women's game in Ellyse Perry and Alyssa Healy, who were both named in Australia's Twenty20 squad for matches against New Zealand.

Loading

CNSW chief Andrew Jones said he was not concerned by the departure of Lendlease or the inability to land a replacement. Jones said Lendlease's financial contribution had largely gone to funding players' salaries, which now fall under Cricket Australia's player payments pool.

"It's not panic stations by any stretch of the imagination. The bulk of the Lendlease sponsorship was going to the players themselves," Jones said. "The bottom line is not material in the grand scheme of things, it was a very, very small percentage of revenue.

"It was a sizeable sponsorship and we achieved what we wanted out of it which is to be able to take our women to full time professional status.

"It was a very, very fruitful partnership for us. A very, very amicable parting of the ways."

CNSW's two WBBL teams the Thunder and Sixers already have shirt sponsors. Unlike the WBBL, the WNCL is not televised, which makes it harder to attract sponsorship.

"The women's game has never been stronger, cricket has never been more watched," Jones said.